I will explain all the awesomeness this video shows us in just a sec! First I gotta say how disappointed I was with Assassin’s Creed 3. The game was cool, had some annoying things that still haven’t been fixed throughout the series, but was overall a nice improvement in the gameplay itself. The shock I had at the end of the opening chapter was awesome, but overall I was bored by the story. I thought it was really cool to be able to take part in some historical events, but I wanted to know more about Connor, his family, and the Assassins. I was very thankful to have learned some more about the “old gods”, they’re my favorite.

Due to my overall disappointment with 3, I wasn’t following the updates about 4 until I was given this writing assignment for Assassins Creed IV’s newest gameplay trailer. Now, I want this game. And I want it right freakin’ now! However, that’s just from my impressions of the gameplay alone. I really hope the story doesn’t disappoint. So far what we do know is that Edward hasn’t really accepted the Creed yet, and only accepts Assassination missions in order to seek fame. He has no real ambitions.

In the video we witness an incredibly seamless and enormous open world that will span over Cuba, the Bahamas, and Florida. Obviously the gameplay is basically the same as the rest of the games in the series, with just a few new features. That’s definitely good enough for me. The newest feature that really blew me away is the “free aim mode” which basically turns the game into a third-person shooter! That might throw some fans off, but remember, it’s just an extra cool feature, and you won’t have infinite bullets.

We also witness non-linear decision-making. Your enemy is making his escape and you chase him down to his ship. You can either shoot him in the back, climb aboard his ship and fight him and his crew before they set sail, or chase his ship down with your own, the “Jackdaw“. The Jackdaw is the “second main character of the game” says game director Ashraf Ismail. Your ship will offer lots of personal customization, and it’s upgrade-able.

As you encounter other ships in the sea you will have many options. Blast the ship into the bottom of the sea or have a look through your spyglass to see if there’s anything of value worth plundering. You can shoot down the mast to bring ships to a halt and board them. Positioning matters. If you get too close to the enemy ship, the crews will jump from one boat to the other for battle. Sounds super epic. You can get close enough to jump into the water and then sneak up behind your enemies. Or you can also take control of a swivel gun and mow down your enemies with ease. Hilarious and really dang cool as far as extra options go.

Here are many of the awesome gameplay highlights:

Battle at sea with Frigates, Chargers, and Man of War (over 100 cannons) ships.

Upon plundering a ship you have the choice of either gaining more crew members, sending the ship to your fleet, or salvaging the ship.

Seamless transition from ground chases into sea chases.

Over 75 undiscovered playa’s (pronounced plyuh). Every single one will have something rewarding.

Find treasure maps that link to the progression of your ship or Edward himself.

Witness faction based sea battles and choose whether or not you want to butt-in, or take advantage of their weakened states.

Become friendly with your crew members, or turn hostile and lose their loyalty.

Use a spyglass that shows you the contents of boats without having to literally visualize them, similar to stats. Also shows you the threat level of the targeted ship.

Harpooning Zone joins the Hunting System, linking directly to weapon upgrades for the number of weapons you carry, the ammo you can carry, and health upgrades.

Navigate dangerous storms that can damage your ship and cause the loss of crew members to the sea.

Dodge water spouts (oceanic tornadoes), these will suck you in and tear your ship apart. Learn how to master the storm, and lure your enemies into it.

Mayan Ruins are heavy with stealth and navigation capacities with hidden treasures.

Collectible songs around the world to gather a playlist for your crew to sing.

Lots of extra effort was put into the weather and daytime cycles.

Finally, the most stand out amazing new feature in the game to me is that synchronization points are now fast travel points!!! The reasoning behind it is because the world is so huge. How crazy-cool is that? Oh my gosh! Something else I noticed while watching the video was dolphins swimming by Edward as he swam over to his ship. It was beautiful! This game looks amazing. I just really hope the story holds up!

Assassin’s Creed IV will launch on all major platforms on October 29th. It will also be on the Wii-U! What? Nice. Later, it will join the libraries of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.